BEYOND THE EXOSPHERE

It must be tough being an upstart progressive metal band these days. You likely spent years of your life studying music and perfecting your technique hoping to make music no less ambitious than your idol Dream Theater. And, when it came time to commit your skill to producing distributable music out on the inter-webs, you quickly discovered just how many aspiring progressive metal musicians there are competing for the same narrow sliver of music consumers' attention; and not just in your region or country, but the world over. You realize that talented and competent bands are a dime dozen. Your only hope of standing out is utilizing more niche songwriting, savvy marketing and business strategies, and, most importantly, attempting to tour aggressively. The first two strategies are difficult enough. But thanks to 2020's Wuhan virus, even touring is no longer a feasible one.

While I don't know the dudes in Pyramid Theorem, I am willing to bet they feel the dilemma presented by this very saturation very strongly. Their latest record, Beyond the Exosphere is an undoubtedly impressive achievement displaying incredible technical skill and a knack for big well layered arrangements, the album's outro being a fantastic example of these arrangements. And yet, I can't really say anything about the music overall that is all that remarkable when stacked up against not only against legacy prog acts still making decent music but even the competition presented from young contemporaries like Inner Odyssey. In normal times, you would hope the success of Pyramid Theorem's live act would be the deciding factor in their ability to set themselves apart, but alas?

My advice to a band like Pyramid Theorem would be to find their own unique voice and comfort zone for experimentation. Sure, there's a good chance early attempts will flop hard. But at least they'll be setting themselves up for potentially discovering a kind of metal the world has not yet heard and never knew it wanted. Is this not what progressive music is really all about?